


For Real

by SpineAndSpite



Category: Persona 5
Genre: Fix-It, Friendship, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-17
Updated: 2017-08-17
Packaged: 2018-12-16 14:25:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 737
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11830602
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SpineAndSpite/pseuds/SpineAndSpite
Summary: She’s nervous, and it’s making Ryuji nervous. “What, are you breakin’ up with me?” he jokes, too loud.Ann’s face smoothes, then crumples, then smoothes again. “That’s...actually kind of what I want to talk about. The things you say to me and like, about me.”





	For Real

**Author's Note:**

> this is LITERALLY just me writing the scene between them i wanted and never got. i maintain that it makes zero sense for ryuji's characterization to have him perving all over ann all the time, especially after the kamoshida stuff so. there you have it.

When Ann pulls Ryuji into an unused classroom, the fabulously optimistic half of him thinks he’s about to be confessed to. The realistic half warns that he’s actually about to get beat up for something he doesn’t even remember doing. 

“Hey, uh…” She’s fidgeting with her hair, looping it around and around her index finger. It’s her main tell, like Yusuke jingling the keys on his belt or Haru playing with her bracelets. “Can we talk?” 

She’s nervous, and it’s making Ryuji nervous. “What, are you breakin’ up with me?” he jokes, too loud. 

Ann’s face smoothes, then crumples, then smoothes again. “That’s...actually kind of what I want to talk about. The things you say to me and like, about me.” 

Something goes very tight in Ryuji’s guts, a pit of discomfort that size of an acorn. “What--what do you mean?” 

Ann twists her hair tighter around her finger. “Just...all the comments about my body and what I’m eating. And that time in the Mona-car where you were looking down my shirt. It, just--.” Her arms go over her ribs, just beneath her breasts. “--It kind of reminds me of the stuff Kamoshida used to say.” 

“The stuff--.” The cold space is getting bigger and bigger--it’s the size of a rock, now. A fist. 

“--And I don’t think you’re doing it on purpose, ‘cause I don’t think you’re a bad guy--.” 

“Wait, wait, hold up!” Ryuji wishes he could summon Captain Kidd here, just to block everything coming at him. “Why tell me this now, why didn’t you say anything?” 

Ann clenches her fists until they tremble. “I did! I do! I always tell you to get off my ass about what I eat, and stop looking at me! Or was me smacking you and covering myself not clear enough?” 

“You didn’t--.” But really, hadn’t she? Again and again? And hadn’t Ryuji always reacted like a dipshit protagonist in a harem anime? 

_Girls don’t mean it when they tell you to leave them alone. They just want attention._ Ryuji doesn’t think he’s ever explicitly heard anyone say that, but it’s...sort of the idea you get from just...everywhere. TV, magazines, manga, the advertisements on the side of buses. It’s a girl’s job to play hard to get and it’s a boy’s job to go after her. 

Fuck. “I’m sorry, Jesus. I’m so effin’--.” How can she even stand to be in the same room with him? “God, I really, _really_ don’t ever want to remind you of that shithead Kamoshida. Ann, I--.” He swallows. Heat is gathering in his throat, burning up into his sinuses. If he cries in front of her, will she laugh at him? “How do I fix it?” 

Ann shrugs. “Treat me like a person, I guess? Not like a girl.” 

Now Ryuji is lost again. “But you are a girl.” 

She rolls her eyes. “Then treat me the way you treat Akira.” 

“But...Akira’s my bro!” 

She smacks her hand against her forehead. “Then treat me like your bro! We used to be friends, Ryuji! We have a ton in common, you know?” 

“Yeah,” Ryuji says, though he’s a bit stung. He’d thought they were _still_ friends. 

“We used to hide out behind the gym to avoid study hall. And we played ninjas when we were kids. It’s not my fault I got boobs.” 

Ryuji does not know what to say to that, so he simplifies his life and says nothing. 

“And it’s not like I don’t get distracted by you too! I just don’t feel the need to inform everybody in the room.” 

“Wait, wow hold up! What do you mean you get distracted by me?” 

Ann’s cheeks darken. “Nothing.” 

“You mean, like, by my body?” 

She flushes deeper. “I’m a teenager, you know? Girls think about that kind of stuff too. But that doesn’t mean I want to, like, go out with you or anything. We’ve got way more important things to worry about than all that stuff.” 

“Yeah,” Ryuji says. _Tell that to my dick, though_. “Right.” He nods. “So...are we okay?” 

Ann lets out a slow breath. “I hope so?” 

“So do we hug now, or like, shake hands?” 

Ann punches him on the arm. “Cut it out.” 

“Okay, you’re not allowed to hit me if I’m not allowed to be a perv.” 

“Cool.” Ann pats him on the arm instead “Deal.”


End file.
